Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Exstal]

I have "pushed past T5", cleared T6, and our static is about to clear T7... the moves can be boiled down to "thing appears -> do thing". Most of it is either dodging, or just watching a mark and moving (or in case of blighted bouquet... not moving). Since the fight doesn't go beyond passively damaging the boss and adds, and doing whatever mark gimmick that flavor has... it really is simple. I can't say about T8 (though read about the Ballistic Missile move) and T9, but if they are different... 2 out of all the bosses in the game isn't much.

Best way to sum it up is: The boss mechanics may be "complex" (I use the word here lightly) but the actual combat and what our characters are doing isn't. The actual damage we do to the mob is a passive drain to it's HP as everyone is actually just dancing around doing the boss' mechanics. Heck, you can take the argument to the extreme, and just have the boss lose HP at a tick per second, strip our abilities, and keep the mechanics. It would be the same damn thing.

The alternative is tank and spank with some minor mechanics. No mechanics is boring and heavy mechanics is a single player game.

Turns 3 & 4 are much of the same from turns 1 & 2. Just..far more punishing.

...and is nothing like the original FFXI? Like, I am sure that it has been repeated over and over yet people still say this like they thought up the most original rebuttal ever.

I'm unaware why people want to go back in time to ancient systems. I'm sure there is a game out there that follows that.